Pretending to be a grown up. One day at a time.

Life is story the you are reading as it is being written

Slowly but surely, book stores are becoming a thing of the past. We can thank the glorious advent of technology. Namely, ebooks. I greatly dislike ereaders and will never willingly purchase one. I miss the bookstore that used to be five minutes from my house. I loved just going there when I had nothing to do and just wandering around the shelves and exploring. I love reading. And I think about how people wish their lives were like a certain kind of book.

My life could pretty much be Nicholas Sparks’s next best seller. That is, if I can get the ending right. I have never actually read one of his novels. I have seen one of the movies based off one of his novels. (And it wasn’t The Notebook. I have yet to be subjected to that film. I have no desire to see it at all. Call me a communist, but Ryan Gosling just doesn’t do it for me.) The only bright side to the potential of my life being like one of his novels is that they always have a happy ending. Well, a somewhat realistic happy ending. Yes, they ride off into the sunset, but there is some twist that might actually happen in real life. What I don’t like about this idea is that his characters have to be so unhappy before they get their happy ending. I mean, I am dealing with such unhappiness now, but that doesn’t mean I am enjoying it. And there is still no 100% certainty that I am going to get a happy ending. And that is where things diverge from his plot line. But I suppose his characters don’t always know that they are going to get a happy ending.

I wonder what other people think of their lives. I doubt anyone wishes for their lives to be a Stephen King novel. Who, in their right minds, wants to be Jack Torrance? There have been a few days in recent months where fog has been really bad in my area, and all I can think is “Well, this is just a Stephen King novel waiting to happen.” It is an odd thing to think, I know, but the one or two times I have said it out loud, it has amused those around me. And I know people wish they lived in the wonderful wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling. And I can understand why. To be able to live in a world where waving a wand and saying the right words can produce a desired result would be lovely for anyone. And with that particular series, you discover a new detail every time you read them.

I have heard of people wishing their lives were like Twilight. Alright, I have only heard girls wish their lives were like Twilight. Having a degree in psychology, I could write an entire dissertation about what is wrong with the relationship dynamics in that book series, let alone a single blog post. It encourages girls to not have lives outside of their boyfriends and tells them that it’s okay for their best friend to sexually assault them. I have read this series because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And honestly, I find the whole series to be an insult to any female with a brain. I could write a whole post about why Twilight is bad without even attacking the writing itself. However, it would become more of a rant than a post and no one wants that.

I love to read because it allows me to immerse myself in a world created by someone else. Some of the details are almost painfully spelled out, while some are up to me to imagine. I can escape to somewhere else for a little while and have the option of going back whenever I want. Books really need to come back in style.